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Thursday, May 22, 2014

Trannyshack Will Rebrand Itself - RuPaul Speaks Out

The controversy over the word tranny is creating some serious changes in the LGBT Community...

Recently, building controversy forced the hand of RuPaul to modify the show RuPaul's Drag Race, and eliminate the terms "she-male" and "she-mail". Now, RuPaul, in an interview (link is at the bottom of the page, skip to 1hr16m) with Marc Maron on his podcast, has spoken out, sharing his opinion about the issue.

No, it is not the transsexual community. These are fringe people who are
looking for story lines to strengthen their identity as victims. That
is what we’re dealing with. It’s not the trans community, because most
people who are trans have been through hell and high water and they know
-- they've looked behind the curtain at Oz and went, 'Oh, this is all a
f**king joke. But, some people haven't... You know, if your idea of
happiness has to do with someone else changing what they say, what they
do, you are in for a f**king hard-ass road.That is just a snippet of what RuPaul said on the matter, please refer to the audio interview. You can download and listen to the clip for free HERE ... The controversy is discussed starting at 1 hour and 16 minutes.

All Heck(lina) broke out over the weekend after the announcements about San Francisco drag legend HEKLINA bringing her famed TRANNYSHACK drag show to Seattle for multiple events over our Pride Weekend, June 27-29, 2014.
Radical Trans* activists apparently speaking on behalf of the entire
trans* community attacked Heklina and Seattle producers of the events
for promoting the use of their self-designated slur term “tranny” as
part of the name of the drag show that Heklina, (Icelandic born
performer Stefan Grygelko) created nearly 20 years ago. Inflammatory
remarks made on Facebook invite threads escalated with both sides making
unfortunate and threatening remarks to anyone who disagreed with their
point of view. Heklina, who has faced increased scutiny and criticism
from some radical elements in the transgendered community made a
spectacular announcement on the main thread for one of the events, the
“T-Shack Seattle Pride Edition” the Mama Tits produced event happening
on Friday, June 27 at The Unicorn/Narwhal: Tired of the petty quarreling, Heklina will be transitioning
(ironic, isn’t it?) the name of Trannyshack over the next few months.

Heklina, founder of Trannyshack made a statement that includes the following...

I am, and will always be, immensely proud of what I have accomplished
with Trannyshack. It’s given me so many great experiences, it’s
afforded me the great luxury of not having to live in the 9 to 5 world
(which would kill me), and I have had the even greater luxury of working
with and meeting the most incredible people. It’s no exaggeration to
say it’s been my life’s work.However. Increasingly, and in the past year especially, it’s become
clear to me the meaning the word tranny has taken on. I’ve tried to
avoid the issue because I’ve spent almost 20 years branding and
promoting my club. But more and more, I am asked on the street, in
interviews, and online about my thoughts on the word, and the name of my
club. I’ve given the answer “Oh, my club is different, it means so much
to so many people, it’s this it’s that, etc.”, but it’s been nagging at
me. I started to talk to people close to me about the need for a
rebrand. What really was the clincher for me was a post I saw on
Facebook by a performer at my club . I wasn’t tagged in the post, but
came across it anyway. He said how excited he was to be performing at my
club but, out of embarrassment, he couldn’t type the name of it, and
something along the lines of “you all know where it is”. Ouch, OK. Time
for a rebrand.

I am in the business of (hopefully) entertaining people. It’s never
been my intention to hurt people. I am not another Shirley Q. Liquor,
wanting to offend just for sake of it. Also, on a purely business level,
I don’t want to be viewed as archaic, out of step with the times, like
an ostrich with my head in the sand.